Systems and methods for detecting inconsistent user actions and providing feedback

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are provided for detecting inconsistent user actions and providing feedback about assets. A user may perform a first action restricting access to a first asset. The system may detect whether a second action performed relative to a second asset that has a similar attribute as the first asset is inconsistent with the first asset. The inconsistency may be detected when the second action removes or is an inaction that does not place access restrictions on the second asset. The system may alert the user about the inconsistency and the user may act on the alert by providing feedback about the inconsistency and/or the first/second asset, ignoring the inconsistency and/or placing an access restriction or other action consistent with the first action relative to the second asset. The user may also provide detailed feedback about an inconsistency or asset through a website accessed on another device.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a division of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/269,639, filed Nov. 12, 2008 now U.S. Pat. No. 8,176,510. Theaforementioned prior application is hereby incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention is directed to systems and methods for using aninteractive media guidance application, and more particularly to usingthe interactive media guidance application to detect inconsistent useractions and provide feedback.

Conventional television equipment devices allow users to perform actionsrelative to programs provided through the television equipment that, forexample, restrict access to the programs or remove access restrictionsfrom the programs. The user may desire to restrict access to aparticular program because, for example, the rating of the programexceeds a tolerance level of a user. The terms “restrict access” may beused interchangeably below with the term “lock” and the term “removeaccess restrictions” may be used interchangeably with the term “unlock”.

Although the user performs the restriction access action relative to theparticular program, there may be other programs, potentially unknown tothe user, that have similar undesirable characteristics (e.g.,unsuitable content) that might also exceed the tolerance level of theuser. The user may perform actions relative to these other programs thatare inconsistent with the restriction access action performed relativeto the particular program. For example, the user may remove accessrestrictions or not restrict access from/to programs that have theundesirable characteristics of a particular program. However,conventional television equipment devices do not determine thatinconsistent actions are performed. Accordingly, the user is notinformed about the existence of these other programs that may haveundesirable characteristics (or about any inconsistent actions) and maytherefore be exposed to unsuitable or undesirable content.

Additionally, a user may be dissatisfied or offended by a particularprogram's rating or subject matter. However, there is no easy way forthe user to express his/her disagreement or disapproval with the rating,content or quality of the program to the media provider or programsponsor(s). Thus, the media provider will unknowingly continue toprovide the inappropriate or offensive program and/or the reputation ofthe sponsor may be damaged because the sponsor may be potentiallyunknowingly associated with the inappropriate and/or offensive subjectmatter.

Accordingly, it is desirable to provide enhanced systems and methods fordetecting inconsistent user actions and providing feedback.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the principles of the present invention, systems andmethods are provided for detecting inconsistent user actions andproviding feedback about assets.

In some embodiments, a user may perform a first action relative to afirst asset. The first action may be in the form of a lock or accessrestriction placed on an attribute (e.g., a rating or title) of anasset. A second action may be performed relative to a second asset whichhas a similar attribute as the first asset. The second action may be inthe form of an inaction (e.g., not locking or not placing accessrestrictions) on the second asset. In some implementations, the secondaction may be an update to the program listings of the program guidewhich changes an attribute of the second asset or adds an asset to theprogram listings. The attributes which are similar between the first andsecond assets may be a rating. In some embodiments, the user mayinstruct the system to search for assets having attributes similar tothose of the first asset to determine whether inconsistent actions arepresent. In some implementations, such a search may be performedautomatically by the system.

The system may detect that actions performed relative to the first andsecond assets are inconsistent. In particular, the system may analyzeasset data structures of the first and second assets and determinewhether a first action (e.g., an access restriction placed on the firstasset) is inconsistent with a second action (e.g., a lack of an accessrestriction placed on the second asset or removal of accessrestrictions). For example, since the assets share attributes, the usermay have locked the first asset because of a certain attribute (e.g., arating) but failed to lock another asset which has a similar attribute(e.g., the same or higher rating).

The system may alert the user about the inconsistency. For example, thesystem may provide a prompt indicating the first action performedrelative to the first asset is inconsistent with an action (or inaction)performed relative to the second asset. In particular, the system mayalert the user that a first asset has been locked and a second assetwhich has a similar attribute has not been locked. The user may chooseto lock the second asset, ignore the alert, or provide feedback aboutthe inconsistency and the first/second asset. In some implementationswhere the user interface limits efficient input of text (e.g., a set-topbox and its remote control), the feedback may be provided by selectingvarious radio buttons or checkboxes.

In some embodiments, the user may select an option to provide morefeedback or detailed feedback. Detailed feedback (e.g., feedback thatincludes textual input) may be provided through a website. Inparticular, a first user device may transmit to a computer an electroniccommunication (e.g., a feedback request) that includes informationidentifying the user and the asset for which the user desires to providefeedback. The computer may be a host for a website of which the user isa member. The computer may store the feedback request in a memory by,for example, adding the feedback request as an entry to a feedbackqueue.

The user may log onto the website hosted by the computer through asecond device. The computer may detect the presence of feedback requestentries in the feedback queue or memory that are associated with theuser. The computer may retrieve one or more of the feedback requestentries and provide the feedback request(s) to the second device. Theuser may be prompted at the second device to provide feedback about theasset associated with a particular feedback request entry at the seconddevice through the website. The user may provide detailed feedback aboutthe asset by selecting various feedback options (including textual inputfields) in a website form. The feedback may be provided to the mediaprovider of the asset and/or to any sponsors or advertisers associatedwith the asset.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other features of the present invention, its nature andvarious advantages will be more apparent upon consideration of thefollowing detailed description, taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an illustrative interactive television system inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 shows an illustrative asset restriction setup screen inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 shows an illustrative asset attribute restriction screen inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 4, 6 and 7 show illustrative conflict alert screens in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 shows an illustrative on-screen menu selection screen inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 shows an illustrative asset feedback screen in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 shows an illustrative asset data structure in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a diagram of an illustrative online asset feedback system inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 11-13 show illustrative asset feedback website screens inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14 illustrates a method of alerting a user about inconsistentactions performed relative to assets in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 15 illustrates a method of restricting access and/or providingfeedback about assets in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention; and

FIG. 16 illustrates a method of providing detailed feedback about anasset through a website in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 shows illustrative interactive media system 100 in accordancewith an embodiment of the invention. User equipment 110 receives contentin the form of signals from media source 120 over communications path122. In practice there may be multiple media sources 120, advertisingsources 130 and user equipment 110, but only one of each has been shownin FIG. 1 to avoid over-complicating the drawing.

Media source 120 may be any suitable media source such as, for example,a cable system headend, satellite media distribution facility, mediabroadcast facility, on-demand server (e.g., VOD server), game serviceprovider (e.g., for online gaming), Internet service provider (e.g., forproviding Websites), an ordered list provider (e.g., for providingplaylists), an asset provider (e.g., for providing assets or assetcharacteristics or attributes) or any other suitable facility or systemfor originating or distributing content. Media source 120 may beconfigured to transmit signals over any suitable communications path 122including, for example, a satellite path, a fiber-optic path, a cablepath, an Internet path, or any other suitable wired or wireless path.The signals may carry any suitable content such as, for example,television programs, games, music, news, and/or web services. In someembodiments, media source 120 may include control circuitry forexecuting the instructions of an interactive media guidance applicationsuch as, for example, a client/server or online interactive mediaguidance application.

Advertising source 130 may be any sponsor or advertising entity thatgenerates media and/or content that attracts users to specificproducts/companies, informs users about specific products/companiesand/or promotes specific products/companies. Advertising source 130 maybe implemented as part of media source 120, data source 124 or as aseparate entity. Advertising source 130 may supply advertising contentto media source 120 and/or user equipment 110 through link 122. Theadvertising content may be used for placement as commercials within atelevision show or as on-screen guide advertisements.

As defined herein, an asset refers to any type of media that may beplayed, accessed, recorded or viewed. Such media may include all thevariants of television media, digital/analog radio media, music media,interactive games, and other audio and/or video media. Each asset may beassociated with an identifier that identifies an aspect (e.g., name ortitle) of the asset. For example, the title of the movie “GoldenEye” maybe associated with a video-on-demand asset or a recorded asset, and thetitle of the song “1979” by the Smashing Pumpkins may be associated witha music asset or game featuring the song's concept. Each asset includesasset characteristics that identify content present in the asset. Assetcharacteristics may include, for example, information conveying theamount of violence in the asset, amount of sexual content in the asset,genre type of the asset, parental control information pertaining to theasset, etc. Each asset may include a set of attributes which mayinclude, for example, asset description, genre, subcategories (e.g.,directors, actors, and/or filming location), service type (VOD, linear,pay-per-view, VOIP, DOCSIS, IPTV, SDV, etc.), scheduling (e.g., time ofday, broadcast time, and/or number of broadcasts per day), rating,sub-rating, viewing status (e.g., viewed, unviewed, start/stop locationof viewed portions, number of times asset has been viewed, number oftimes episodes from a series have been watched, etc.), feedback status(e.g., whether feedback has previously been provided or not for theasset), series membership, favorite assets membership, bookmark status,tagged status, channel association, website association, etc.

Media source 120 may store user preference profiles according to theinvention which may be accessed by user equipment 110. For example, whena user sets up a user preference profile that contains preferencecharacteristics relating to an asset, that user preference profile maybe maintained at media source 120. Maintaining the user preferenceprofile at media source 120 may be advantageous because media source 120can dynamically adjust the contents or preferences of the userpreference profile based on the user's local or remote viewing behavior.Maintaining the user preference profile at media source 120 may also beadvantageous because it may be accessed by users and family members at adifferent user equipment 110. Alternatively, user preference profilesmay be stored on user equipment 110.

User equipment 110 may include any equipment suitable for providing aninteractive media experience. User equipment 110 may include televisionequipment such as a television, Tru2way™ television, set-top box,recording device (e.g., digital video recorder), video player, userinput device (e.g., remote control, keyboard, mouse, touch pad, touchscreen and voice recognition interface), or any other device suitablefor providing an interactive media experience. For example, userequipment 110 may include a DCT 2000, 2500, 5100, 6208 or 6412 set-topbox provided by Motorola, Inc. In some embodiments, user equipment 110may include computer equipment, such as a personal computer with atelevision card (PCTV) and an optional Open Cable UnidirectionalReceiver (OCUR) plug-in card or other security access card suitable forsecure delivery of content. In some embodiments, user equipment 110 mayinclude a gaming system, a portable electronic device, such as aportable DVD player, a portable gaming device, a cellular telephone, apersonal digital assistant (PDA), a music player (e.g., MP3 player), orany other suitable portable or fixed device.

User equipment 110 may include a network interface (not shown) thatinterconnects various elements of user equipment 110 within, forexample, a household. Such an arrangement may permit interconnection ofmultiple instances of user equipment 110 and/or use of a remotelylocated recording device (e.g., digital video recorder). The networkinterface may allow user equipment 110 to transmit and/or receive (overthe internet or other communications path) electronic communicationsthat allow feedback to be provided about an asset to/from a computer orwebsite host.

In the example of FIG. 1, user equipment 110 includes at least controlcircuitry 118, display device 112, and user input device 114, which maybe implemented as separate devices or as a single device. An interactivemedia guidance application, such as an interactive television programguide, may be implemented on user equipment 110 to control the display,on display device 112, of the media transmitted by media source 120 overpath 122 and to provide interactive media guidance application features.

The media that may be played by user equipment 110 may vary widely. Infact, many different types of media may be played by user equipment 110.Many different types of media may be available because each media typemay be unique in a technical sense (e.g., a particular technicalimplementation is required to play a particular type of media) or isconsidered unique in a definitional sense by way of service type (e.g.,a video-on-demand program may be considered a different type of mediathan a broadcast program). The different types of media may beclassified generally or to a desired degree of specificity. For example,media may be classified into various types, including television media,music media, and audio and/or video media. Within each general mediatype, more specific and different media types are available. Televisionmedia may include, for example, broadcast television programming,recorded television programming, video-on-demand (VOD) programming, nearvideo-on-demand (NVOD) programming, pay-per-view programming, satellitetelevision programming, and streaming video programming. Recordedtelevision programming may be a recording of another type of televisionprogramming (e.g., linear programming). Recorded television programs orassets may be stored locally on user equipment 110 or remotely onnetworked user equipment (not shown). Recorded television programming orassets may also be stored on a remote network video recorder/server(such as media source 120 or similar remote server). Music media mayinclude, for example, MP3 files, WAV files, MIDI files, AAC, Real media,Dolby Digital, or other suitable format with which music can becompressed, distributed and stored on user device 110.

Display device 112 may be any suitable device such as, for example, atelevision monitor, a computer monitor, or a display incorporated inuser equipment 110 (e.g., a cellular telephone or music player display).Display device 112 may also be configured to provide for the output ofaudio. Display device 112 may be configured to present a displayalerting a user about inconsistent actions performed relative to assetsand provide asset listings of assets that have/have not been restricted(e.g., locked). Feedback options may be displayed on display device 112allowing the user to provide information about any detected inconsistentactions.

Control circuitry 118 is adapted to receive user inputs from inputdevice 114 and execute the instructions of the interactive mediaguidance application. Control circuitry 118 may include one or moretuners (e.g., analog or digital tuners), encoders and decoders,processors (e.g., Motorola 68000 family processors), memory (i.e., RAMand hard disks), communications circuitry (e.g., cable modem circuitry),input/output circuitry (e.g., graphics circuitry), connections to thevarious devices of user equipment 110, and any other suitable componentfor providing analog or digital media programming, program recording andplayback, and interactive media guidance features. In some embodiments,control circuitry 118 may be included as part of one of the devices ofuser equipment 110 such as, for example, part of display 112 or anyother device (e.g., a set-top box, television and video player).

Control circuitry 118 may receive actions performed relative to an asset(e.g., restricting access to a particular asset) from, for example, auser or an update. Control circuitry 118 may search for a second assetthat has similar attributes as the asset for which the action wasperformed to determine if there exists an inconsistent action performedrelative to the second asset (e.g., not restricting access to the secondasset). Control circuitry 118 may determine that two or more assets havesimilar attributes by comparing attributes stored in asset datastructures. Control circuitry 118 may display an alert when the secondasset is found allowing the user to provide feedback about theinconsistency (or asset) or make the actions consistent by, for example,restricting access to the second asset.

For example, control circuitry 118 may receive a first action from auser to restrict access to (e.g., lock or block) all horror genre films.Control circuitry 118 may receive a second action that removes accessrestrictions from (e.g., unlocks or unblocks) a particular asset that isin the horror genre (e.g., Psycho). Control circuitry 118 may determinethat Psycho has a similar attribute (e.g., shares the genre category)with at least one of the films for which the user restricted access.Control circuitry 118 may detect that the actions performed relative tothe two assets (e.g., Psycho and another horror film) are inconsistent(e.g., the first action restricted access while the second actionremoved an access restriction). Control circuitry 118 may alert the userabout the inconsistency by, for example, displaying on display device112 a prompt stating, “You have unblocked Psycho but have blocked allother horror films, would you like to also unblock all horror films?”Control circuitry 118 may allow the user to remove the accessrestrictions from all horror films (e.g., in response to detecting thatthe user removed access restrictions to a particular horror film) oralternatively, allow the user to provide feedback about Psycho oranother horror film that contains access restrictions. The feedbackprovided by the user may be transmitted to media source 120 or directlyto advertising source 130 for reporting the user's approval ordisapproval of the asset.

Control circuitry 118 may also automatically suggest a compromiseposition based on subcategories of assets which have similar attributesand for which inconsistent actions have been performed. For example, asexemplified above, the first action restricted access to all horrorfilms and the second action removed access restrictions from a singlemember of that group (i.e., Psycho). Control circuitry 118 may promptthe user to, instead of removing access restrictions from all horrorfilms (based on the inconsistent actions), remove access restrictionsfrom all “Alfred Hitchcock” horror movies (i.e., a subcategory (aparticular director) of the genre attribute).

Alternatively, control circuitry 118 may allow the user to remove accessrestrictions from all “Alfred Hitchcock” movies (i.e., a separatecategory related to a different attribute (director) than the attribute(genre) whose similarity between the two assets triggered the prompt).For example, the director “Alfred Hitchcock” may be a subcategory in the“horror” and “classic films” genres which both contain accessrestrictions. Accordingly, in response to receiving the action to removerestrictions from an asset in one restricted genre (i.e., the horrorgenre) having a particular director (or subcategory), control circuitry118 may allow the user to manually (or automatically) remove accessrestrictions from assets in another restricted genre (i.e., the classicfilms genre) that have the same director.

Control circuitry 118 may transmit a communication to a computer (thathosts a website) when a user indicates the desire to provide feedbackabout a particular asset. The feedback may be stored in a queue andprovided to the user when the user accesses the website from userequipment 110. User equipment 110 on which the user accesses the websiteto provide feedback may be the same or a different user equipment 110that was used to perform the action relative to the asset (e.g.,restricting access to the asset). The computer may transmit the user'sfeedback reporting the user's approval or disapproval of the asset tomedia source 120 or directly to advertising source 130.

User equipment 110 may include a storage device 116 such as, forexample, memory or hard-drive (e.g., digital video recorder). Only onesuch storage device is shown to avoid overcrowding the figure, though itshould be understood that additional storage devices may be used asdesired. Storage device 116 may store data (e.g., playlists) and media(e.g., recorded assets). In another embodiment (not shown) userequipment 110 may be able to access a storage device located at a remotesite and store data and/or media at that remote storage device. Such aremote storage device may be referred to herein as a networked storagedevice or a networked digital video recorder.

In some embodiments, the interactive media guidance application mayprovide features to the user with a client/server approach. There may beone server for each instance of user equipment 110, one for multipleinstances of user equipment 110, or a single server may serve as a proxyfor each instance of user equipment 110.

Any suitable number of users may have equipment, such as user equipment110, connected to media source 120 and data source 124. But for clarityof illustration, the equipment of only a single user is shown. Theequipment of the plurality of users may be connected to media source 120and data source 124 using a cable television network, a local areanetwork (LAN), a wireless network, or any other suitable means. In someembodiments, multiple instances of user equipment 110 may be connectedor networked to each other using any suitable means (e.g., within ahousehold using a LAN, potentially using the Multimedia Over Coax (MoCA)standard or between households using a WAN over DOCSIS network).

User equipment 110 may receive interactive media guidance applicationdata from one or more data sources 124. Data sources 124 may providedata for a particular type of content or for a particular application.For example, one data source 124 may provide data for non-on-demandassets (e.g., non-pay and pay-per-view programs), and another mayprovide data for on-demand assets (e.g., VOD programs). Or, for example,a single data source may provide both of these types of data. Forexample, one data source 124 may provide data for an interactivetelevision program guide. Another data source 124 may provide data forasset characteristics or attributes used in determining which assetshave similar attributes to detect inconsistent actions. Another datasource 124 may, for example, provide data for another interactiveapplication (e.g., a home shopping application). In some embodiments,data sources 124 may provide data to the interactive media guidanceapplication using a client/server approach. There may be one server perdata source, one for all sources or, in some embodiments, a singleserver may communicate as a proxy between user equipment 110 and variousdata sources 124. In some embodiments, data sources 124 may provide dataas an online interactive media guidance application. In suchembodiments, data source 124 may include control circuitry for executingthe instructions of the online media guidance application.

FIG. 1 shows media source 120 and data sources 124 as separate elements.In practice, their functionality may be combined and provided from asingle system at a single facility, or multiple systems at multiplefacilities. For example, one media source 120 and data source 124 may becombined to provide VOD content and associated VOD data.

For the purpose of clarity, the following discussion may sometimesdescribe an embodiment in which the interactive media guidanceapplication is an interactive program guide. It will be understood,however, that the following discussion and the features discussed may beapplied to any interactive media guidance application including onlineor Internet based media guidance applications.

A member of a household watching a particular program may decide torestrict access to the program and other related programs because ofundesirable or inappropriate content that is provided with the program.For example, a parent may decide to restrict access to adult programmingbecause of the presence of children in the home. Accordingly, the parentmay instruct the system to restrict access to all programming above acertain rating. Additionally, the user may restrict access to programsbased on title or other attributes. The system may automatically or uponrequest by the user, search and find other programs that have similarattributes as the restricted program. The system may allow the user torestrict access to the other programs and/or provide feedback about therestricted program.

FIG. 2 shows an illustrative asset restriction setup screen 200 inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Screen 200 mayinclude a video display portion 210, various asset restriction optionsthat are based on asset attributes and an advertisement portion 220.Video display portion 210 may display the last channel tuned to by theuser along with a channel identifier 212. The video displayed in videodisplay portion 210 may be a live video stream, a short on-demandsegment, an advertisement segment, a website, or any other type of videoor still image.

Advertisement portion 220 may provide one or more advertisements thatmay be targeted based on a particular user profile or the videodisplayed in video display portion 210. The advertisement may includecontent provided by advertising source 130 (FIG. 1). The advertisementdisplayed in advertisement portion 220 may be a video or still image.Advertisement portion 220 may be interactive allowing the user to selectthe region to receive more information about the content beingadvertised or to place an order for the content being advertised.

The user may enter the asset restriction setup screen 200 in order torestrict access to one or more assets based on one or more attributes.For example, the user may be watching a particular program and duringthe program the user may decide to restrict access to the program.Accordingly, the user may select an option from a displayed menu thatbrings the user to screen 200. The program that was being viewed maysimultaneously be viewed through video display portion 210.

As shown, the user may restrict access to assets based upon any ofseveral types of attributes. For example, the user may restrict accessto movies rated above, for example, PG-13 by selecting movie ratinglocks option 230. The user may restrict access to television programsrated above, for example, TV-PG by selecting television rating locksoption 232. Additionally, the user may restrict access to assets basedon their descriptions (e.g., based on certain words that appear in thedescription) or their general content (e.g., adult programming oreducational programming) by selecting television content locks option234. The user may restrict access to various channels by selectingchannel locks option 236. Other types of attributes that may be used asa basis for restricting access include asset viewing status which may berestricted by selecting status locks option 239 and type of service ofthe asset which may be restricted by selecting service locks option 231.As shown, a highlight indicates selection of title locks option 238which selection may allow the user to navigate to title lock screen 300,discussed below in connection with FIG. 3.

For purposes of brevity and clarity, and not by way of limitation, notevery attribute is shown or described in the context of this invention.It should be understood that other attributes may also be used as abasis for restricting access to assets. Additionally, by way of exampleand not limitation, this invention is described in the context of atitle restriction of an asset but should be understood to be applicableto any type of restriction based on an attribute.

A display locked programs/attributes option 270 may also be provided.Selecting display locked programs/attributes option 270 may cause thesystem to display a list of all assets and/or attributes that arerestricted (which may be based on a particular user profile). Forexample, when assets Pokemon and Family Guy are restricted and the userselects display locked programs/attributes option 270, the system mayretrieve the two assets and display their titles and, for example,another attribute such as the next time of broadcast. The user mayremove access restrictions to any one of the assets from the displayedlist of restricted assets. Additionally, if certain attributes (e.g.,channels or ratings) have been restricted, the system may display therestricted attributes. The user may modify or remove the accessrestrictions to the restricted attributes from a displayed list ofrestricted attributes.

The user may select a user profile using drop-down menu 260 to loadsettings unique to a particular user. After a user profile is selected,the system may request a pin associated with the selected user profileto be provided in order to verify the user's identity. For example, auser “dad” may select the corresponding “dad” profile from menu 260.After the user enters the verification information, the system maychange the asset restrictions to match the user's settings. Inparticular, while one user may be allowed to watch certain programs,another may not. Accordingly, selecting the particular user profile mayinstruct the system to restrict/grant access to particular assets basedon the attributes of the assets. Additionally, the system may storevarious viewing behaviors in a one or more user profiles that areselected.

The user profiles stored in the system may also be linked or groupedwith each other in order to maintain consistency between assetrestrictions. User profiles may be linked by selecting profile setupoption 250. The relationship between user profiles (e.g., father/motheror brother/sister) may also be configured by selecting user profilesetup option 250. For example, two parent profiles may be linked to eachother such that when one parent (e.g., the mother) using a particularuser profile removes access restrictions to/from a particular assetbased on one attribute (e.g., director or actors in an asset), thesystem may check for a linked user profile (e.g., the father's profile)to ensure that the other attributes (e.g., an asset title) restricted bythe father are consistent with the mother's action. In particular, twousers may be part of a parent group and may perform inconsistent actionsas parents. For example, one parent (who belongs to the parent groupprofile) may restrict access to an episode of the program “Sponge Bob”and another parent (who belongs to the same parent group profile) mayenable access to a movie (i.e., a different asset) featuring charactersfrom the restricted program “Sponge Bob.” These actions may beconsidered to be inconsistent and the system may detect such aninconsistency and alert the user. In some embodiments, conflictingactions with respect to the same asset from parents or generally frommembers of the same supervisory group may be flagged by the system. Ifone parent or member of the group had restricted access to the program“Sponge Bob” and another parent or member of the group attempted toremove the restriction, the parent or member of the group that attemptedto restrict access may be informed of the discrepancy.

To setup the pin for a particular user profile(s) the pin setup option240 may be selected. Pin setup option 240 may bring up a promptrequesting a pin or unique identifier for a particular user profile tobe entered if one has not previously been provided. Alternatively, if apin has already been set for a particular profile, pin setup option 240may allow the user to change the pin or unique identifier associatedwith the profile.

After selecting one of the attributes to use as a basis for restrictingaccess to an asset, the user may be provided with a display that allowsthe user to specify the restriction and search for assets with similarattributes.

FIG. 3 shows an illustrative asset attribute restriction screen 300 inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The attributeselected by the user by which to restrict access is an asset title (byselecting asset title locks option 238). Screen 300 may include a titleselection portion 305 and a selected asset attributes portion 307.

Title selection portion 305 may include a title menu 310 and a findsimilar assets option 320. The user can select the drop-down menu 310 toidentify a particular title of an asset for which to restrict access.For example, as shown, the user has identified the title “Family Guy” asa title of an asset for which to restrict access. Initially, the titlesavailable for selection through menu 310 may be a predefined set or allavailable titles on a particular channel. For example, the user mayspecify a channel using a channel option (not shown) and the system mayallow selection of a particular title provided on the selected channelfrom menu 310. Additionally, menu 310 may include titles of assets forwhich access restrictions are in place. Assets in menu 310 which haveasset restrictions may be distinguished from assets in menu 310 whichare not restricted by displaying the restricted assets in a differentcolor or other suitable way. The user may either unlock the restrictedasset or change preferences of the access restriction.

The user may also select find assets option 320 to search for an assetif, for example, the asset title is not found in menu 310. For example,selecting find assets option 320 may provide a search screen in whichthe user may provide various criteria that identifies a program. Inparticular, the user may search for an asset using search terms, suchas, a word that appears in the title, a channel, a word that appears inthe description of the program, a genre of the program, or any of theasset attributes discussed above and below. The system may perform asearch locally or remotely on the Internet using any suitable searchengine (e.g., GOGGLE), to locate programs or assets that match thesearch terms. The system may then display a list of all matching titlesresulting from the search. The user may restrict access to any one ofthe titles in the list.

It should be understood, that when the user is restricting access to aparticular asset based on an attribute (e.g., genre), the user may findother assets having the same particular genre using a similar option asfind assets option 320. The list of assets resulting from the search maybe all the assets that belong to the selected genre and that match anyother search term (e.g., have a particular word(s) in theirdescription).

After a particular asset title is selected or found it may be displayedin menu 310 and one or more of the attributes from the asset datastructure associated with the selected title may be retrieved fromstorage device 116 (FIG. 1). An exemplary asset data structure 900 isshown and described below in connection with FIG. 9. The retrievedattributes may be displayed in asset attributes portion 307. Forexample, the rating (e.g., TV-PG) of the selected asset (e.g., FamilyGuy) may be displayed next to a rating attribute 330. The size of thedisplay may limit the number of attributes 330 that can be displayed.Accordingly, selection of a show more option 340 may supplement, changeor bring into view a new display with additional attributes that areassociated with the selected title.

Each attribute 330 may be displayed with a corresponding radio button332. The user may identify a particular attribute of interest byselecting the corresponding radio button 332 of the attribute. Selectingattributes allows the user to identify other assets for which it wouldbe desirable to restrict access. For example, the user may determinethat the selected title is offensive or inappropriate due to aparticular attribute (e.g., rating) and wish to restrict access to otherassets that have a similar attribute.

After the user selects the one or more offensive attributes, the usermay select submit option 370 to search for other assets that share theselected attributes. For example, control circuitry 118 may retrieve thevalues of the selected attributes from the asset data structureassociated with the selected title and compare each of the values in thefields of the asset data structure to corresponding values stored instorage device 116 of other assets. When a match is found, controlcircuitry 118 may mark or tag the matching asset and subsequentlydisplay the matching assets in a conflict alert screen. The user maylater decide to also restrict access to the other assets that havesimilar values for the selected attributes or ignore them.

The user may also instruct the system to lock all assets that havevalues matching the selected attributes automatically by selecting lockall matches option 350. Selection of submit option 370 instructs thesystem to lock the title that appears in menu 310 in addition to thesearch for assets that have similar selected attributes. The user maycontrol whether other assets are searched for that have similarattributes in response to selection of the submit option 370 by togglingsearch for other assets option 360. For example, when search for otherassets option 360 is set to YES, the system may provide a list of assetsthat have similar attributes as the selected attributes of theparticular title of the asset that appears in menu 310. Alternatively,when search for other assets option 360 is set to NO, the system maylock the asset with the title that appears in menu 310 and return theuser to the previously watched program that may appear in video displayportion 210.

In some embodiments, asset attributes portion 307 may be omitted fromthe display. After the user selects a title from menu 310 and executesthe selection by selecting submit option 370, the system mayautomatically perform a search for assets that have at least one similarattribute as the asset corresponding to the selected title. The resultsfrom the automatic search may then be provided as discussed above andbelow allowing the user to lock or ignore the assets which have asimilar attribute as the asset corresponding to the selected title. Insome implementations, some attributes of an asset may be marked as beingof high importance (e.g., rating may be marked as important whileservice type may not) and the system may only search for assets thathave a similar attribute as the marked high importance attribute of theasset corresponding to the selected title. This may make the search forother assets more efficient and provide results quicker. If assetattributes portion 307 is provided, the default may be to have the radiobuttons 332 of all the attributes that are marked as high importancepre-selected. A clear or toggle option (not shown) may be provided toundo selection of radio buttons 332.

In some embodiments, an on-screen menu 520 (FIG. 5) may be displayedwith a particular program. On-screen menu 520 may include a lock titleoption 540, a lock channel option 550, a lock time option 560 or anyother lock option for an attribute of a particular asset. Selection ofany of the lock options from the on-screen menu 520 may navigate theuser to screen 300 to allow the user to lock the title, channel, or timeof the displayed program. For example, when the user selects lock titleoption 560 and the program being watch is “Family Guy,” the system maydisplay screen 300 and the title (e.g., Family Guy) of the program thatis being watched may be displayed in menu 310. The system may alsooptionally display the attributes associated with the assetcorresponding to the selected title in potion 307 as discussed above.

The results from the search for assets that have at least one similarattribute as the locked asset and for which an inconsistent action hasbeen performed (e.g., an inaction such as not locking the assets) mayappear in a list in a conflict alert screen. The user may select betweenthe assets in the list to lock any one or all of the assets.

FIG. 4 shows an illustrative conflict alert screen 400 in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention. Conflict alert screen 400provides a list of assets which have at least one similar attribute asthe asset which the user selected to lock (i.e., because of the asset'stitle, genre, rating, etc.).

Screen 400 includes a list of assets by title 430, list of sharedattributes 440 and lock options 420 for each asset in the list of assetsby title 430.

The user may view the titles of assets that have a similar attribute asthe locked asset and which, for example, have not been locked in list oftitles 430. For example, the user may have selected to lock the title“Family Guy” associated with a particular asset and the system maydetermine that the asset with the title “Pokemon” shares an attributewith “Family Guy” but has not been locked. Accordingly, the “Pokemon”asset title may be displayed in list 430. The system may also providethe attribute which the asset shares (i.e., the similar attributes) withthe locked asset in shared attributes list 440. For example, a drop-downmenu 442 may be selected to view all of the attributes (if more than oneexists) that are similar between the locked and unlocked assets. Inparticular, the system may determine that the asset “Pokemon” which isnot locked shares rating attribute (e.g., TV-PG) with the locked asset“Family Guy” and accordingly “rating” may be displayed in drop-down menu442 next to the title of the asset “Pokemon”.

Any assets not displayed in the list due to the limited amount of spacemay be brought into view by scrolling the list of titles 430 up/downusing scroll bar 450. For example, there may be one additional assetwhich shares attributes with the locked asset but is not shown in screen400 because the screen is limited to displaying a certain number ofasset titles. Accordingly, scrolling down using bar 450 may remove someof the asset titles from the top of title asset list 430 and displayother asset titles at the bottom of the list.

The user may decide to lock any one of the assets displayed in list oftitles 430 by selecting the checkbox 422 next to the particular asset.For example, the user may desire to lock the assets entitled “Pokemon”and “South Park” but to leave the other assets unlocked. Accordingly,checkboxes 422 next to each of the assets which the user would like tolock may be enabled. The user may subsequently select the lock selectedoption 480 to lock the assets identified by checkbox 422 and the systemmay then exit the menu and return the user to the previously watchedprogram or another channel.

Back option 460 may be provided in screen 400. The user may select backoption 460 to return to screen 300 to modify selection of a locked assetor attributes to consider in the search for assets that share similarattributes with the locked asset. An unlock option 490 may also beprovided. Selection of unlock option 490 may undo the action performedon the asset selected in screen 300 (FIG. 3). For example, when the userselects a title to lock in screen 300 and subsequently performs a searchfor assets with similar attributes, selection of unlock option 490 mayremove the lock from the title selected to be locked in screen 300.

A provide feedback option 470 may also be provided in screen 400.Selection of provide feedback option 470 may allow the user to specifyreasons for selecting the attribute to lock or for which to restrictaccess or specify reasons for locking or not locking assets that havesimilar attributes as the locked asset. For example, the user may selectto lock the title “Family Guy” in screen 300 and may select providefeedback option 470 to specify why the particular title was locked. Inparticular, although other assets may share attributes with the lockedtitle, the user may not wish to lock the other assets and accordinglyprovide reasons for the inconsistency. The way in which the user mayprovide the feedback is discussed below in more detail in connectionwith FIGS. 8 and 11-13.

For example, unlocked asset “Seinfeld” may share a rating attribute withthe locked asset “Family Guy” but the user may not select to lock“Seinfeld” which may be an inconsistent action with the desire to lock asimilarly rated asset. It may be beneficial to provide reasons for theinconsistency (i.e., why the user chose to lock Family Guy but notSeinfeld) to cause a change in content or sponsorship of Family Guy. Inparticular, if a sponsor of Family Guy receives feedback from enoughusers about the inappropriateness of the content, the sponsor may chooseto advertise or provide funds to a different channel or asset. Byproviding feedback the user may also suggest a different, perhaps moresuitable, rating for the asset. Other examples of where a user may wantto provide feedback for programs include (a) reporting on the accuracyof news programs or history programs, (b) commenting on missedopportunities for education in children's programming, (c) commenting onthe advertising appropriateness to content, (d) commenting on productplacement within content, and (e) making suggestions for improvements inprogramming or plotlines or ideas for plot twists in new seriesepisodes.

FIG. 5 shows an illustrative on-screen menu selection screen 500 inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Screen 500includes a program being watched 510 and a channel identifier 512 onwhich the program is broadcast. An on-screen menu 520 may be displayedwith program 510 as a transparent overlay (allowing the overlaidportions of program 510 to be viewed through the overlay), a translucentoverlay, or any other suitable overlay. As the user is accessing theasset (e.g., program 510), the user may perform an action on the asset.The options displayed in on-screen menu 520 allow the user to perform anaction relative to the asset.

For example, the user may lock the asset being viewed by title byselecting lock title option 540 (which may bring up screen 300 (FIG.3)). Other options which are not shown corresponding to differentattributes of the asset may be provided through which the user may actupon to lock an attribute of program 510. For example, selecting theright arrow 524 or left arrow 522 may display other locking options inon-screen menu 520 that the user may select to act upon the asset beingviewed.

The user may also select a provide feedback option 570 to providereasons of like/dislike for the asset being viewed. For example,selection of provide feedback option 570 may display a provide feedbackscreen 800 (FIG. 8) through which the user may provide thepositive/negative reasons about the like/dislike of the asset. In oneembodiment, an option is provided that allows users to be educated onthe movie and/or television rating system. In such embodiments,exemplary content with specific ratings may be accessed and explanatorytext providing guidelines that are used by content providers in ratingcontent may be provided. An example of such a system is provided in U.S.patent application Ser. No. 12/006,103, filed Dec. 28, 2007, which ishereby incorporated by references herein in its entirety. In someembodiments, access to feedback provided by other users may be provideda particular user regarding assets in question, including full textualfeedback that was entered by the other users using, for example, a webinterface.

In some embodiments, the system may automatically search for assets thathave similar attributes as a locked asset to determine whether there isan inconsistency between actions performed relative to the assets. Forexample, the user may perform a first action by locking the asset“Family Guy” which has a rating attribute of TV-PG. The system may inresponse determine whether other assets that have a similar attribute(e.g., assets rated TV-PG) have had the first action performed relativeto them (i.e., been locked). The system may determine that the actionswith respect to the assets are inconsistent (e.g., because one actionlocked the asset and the other action did not (i.e., the other action isan inaction relative to the other assets)) and alert the user about theconflict.

FIG. 6 shows an illustrative conflict alert screen 600 in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention. Screen 600 includes aconflict alert portion 605 and a conflict resolutions section 607.

Conflict alert portion 605 may identify the similar attribute 610 amongthe assets which inconsistent actions are performed. For example, whenthe user locks an asset having a particular rating attribute but doesnot lock another asset having the same or higher rating attribute, thesystem may alert the user to the conflict (or inconsistency) byindicating the two assets are similar in rating attribute 610 andindicate inconsistent actions have been made relative to the assets. Thesystem may display more than one attribute 610 if the assets havemultiple similar attributes.

Conflict resolutions section 607 allows the user to specify how theinconsistent actions are to be resolved. For example, conflictresolutions section 607 may include a message specifying the value 620(e.g., rating attribute with value TV-PG) of the similar attribute andprovide the user with different selectable options to resolve theconflict. In particular, the system may display a message indicatingthat the user has locked asset “Family Guy” which has a rating attributewith value TV-PG but has not locked all assets with that value or higherfor the rating attribute.

The user may select a continue with the lock option 630 by selectingradio button 632. Selection of continue with lock option 630 allows theuser to ignore the alert or conflict and only lock the specified asset(e.g., “Family Guy”) and not any of the other assets that have a similarattribute. Additionally, the user may select a lock all assets with thesimilar attribute option 640. Selection of lock all assets with thesimilar attribute option 640 may cause all the assets that share or havethe similar particular attribute 610 as the locked asset to also belocked at the same time. For example, asset “Family Guy” may have arating of TV-PG and the system may allow the user to select option 640to lock all other assets having that particular rating (e.g., TV-PG). Itmay be desirable to, in addition to locking all assets having thesimilar attribute (e.g., TV-PG), lock all other assets that are ratedhigher than TV-PG (e.g., TV-MA) since their content may exceed a viewingthreshold of the user.

A provide feedback option 650 may also be selected. Provide feedbackoption 650 may have similar functionality as provide feedback option 470(FIG. 4) and provide feedback option 570 (FIG. 5). In particular, theuser may select provide feedback option 650 to provide reasons for theinconsistency or conflict between the actions performed relative to afirst asset and the assets that have similar attributes as the firstasset. For example, the user may provide reasons for locking asset“Family Guy” but not locking all other assets that have a similar ratingattribute of TV-PG. Selection of provide feedback option 650 may presentthe user with screen 800 (FIG. 8) discussed in more detail below.

After the user selects all of the desired conflict resolutions by way ofselecting radio buttons 632, the user may select continue option 660 toexecute the user's selections. For example, when lock all assets withthe similar attribute option 640 and provide feedback option 650 areselected, the user may select continue option 660 to execute locking allof the similarly rated assets and display screen 800 to allow the userto provide feedback. The user may also select unlock option 670 to undothe locking operation of the selected asset (e.g., “Family Guy”) andnavigate back to screen 300 to select a different asset to lock, selectdifferent attributes to search for similar assets based on, or cancelall operations and return to the previously viewed program.

In some embodiments, the system may detect an inconsistency betweenactions performed relative to assets in response to an update to theprogram guide. FIG. 7 shows an illustrative conflict alert screen inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

In particular, the user may initially perform a first action (e.g.,lock) relative to a particular asset (e.g., “Family Guy”). When anupdate to the program guide listings is received, the system may searchthe updated program listings for assets that have similar attributes asthe locked asset to determine whether inconsistent actions have beenperformed. If the system detects inconsistency between actions performedrelative to the particular asset and the updated assets, the system mayindicate a listings update conflict alert 710.

The system may list assets which have not been locked that have beenupdated and that have a similar attribute as the locked asset (e.g.,list of programs added to the program listings 730 or list of programshaving a changed attribute 760). In particular, the update to thelistings may have changed an attribute of a particular asset to besimilar as the locked asset. Such an asset may be identified in the listof program that have changed attributes 760.

The user may lock any one of the assets displayed in lists 730 and 760by selecting the checkbox 722 corresponding to the particular asset. Thesystem may lock all the selected assets after the user selects continueoption 770. Alternatively, the user may cause any of the assets in lists730 or 760 to automatically be locked by positioning a cursor over thedisplayed title of the asset and selecting the asset. A confirmationprompt (not shown) may optionally be displayed to confirm the user'sdesire to lock a particular asset or cancel the selection.

The system may display a list 740 that indicates which locked assetshares an attribute with the newly added asset. For example, asset“Family Guy” may be locked and asset “American Dad” may be added to theprogram guide listings in response to an update. The system maydetermine that the two assets have similar attributes (e.g., channel orrating). Accordingly, the system may display newly added asset “AmericanDad” in list 730 and the locked asset “Family Guy” with which the addedasset shares an attribute in list 740. This may be helpful when the userhas locked multiple assets and would like to know which of the multipleassets caused the conflict with the newly added asset or asset with thechanged attributes.

A drop-down menu 750 may indicate what the shared attributes between thetwo assets are when there are multiple shared attributes. Additionally,as discussed above, the user may select unlock option 744 to unlock theoriginally-locked asset (e.g., “Family Guy”) or feedback option 742 toprovide reasons for the inconsistency between the actions. For example,if the user chooses to not lock the newly added asset, the user mayprovide reasons for the inconsistent actions (i.e., why the user choseto lock one asset and not the other even though they share an attribute)by selecting feedback option 742. Similar options and lists are providedfor conflicts resulting from changed attributes of programs.

In some embodiments, the user may provide feedback about an asset. Thefeedback may be positive when the user likes something about an asset ornegative when the user dislikes something about an asset orinconsistency. The feedback may be provided in response to performing anaction (e.g., locking) relative to a particular asset.

FIG. 8 shows an illustrative asset feedback screen 800 in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention. Screen 800 allows the userto provide positive/negative reasons about an asset. For example, whenthe user locks a particular asset but does not lock an asset that has asimilar attribute as the locked asset, the user may specify reasons forthe inconsistency. In particular, the user may specify reasons forlocking a particular asset by selecting various options in a limitedinteractivity television program guide interface.

The system may display the asset title 810 for which feedback is beingprovided. Various feedback options/reasons 820 are provided with radiobuttons 822. The user may enable each radio button 822 based on thefeedback the user wants to provide. In particular, the user may enableradio button 822 to provide feedback indicating the asset exceeds thegiven rating attribute (e.g., the rating is inappropriate for theasset). The user may also select different radio buttons to give reasonswhy the asset exceeds the rating attribute (e.g., because of sex,violence, or language). The user may also suggest a rating by selectinga rating from drop-down menu 830 that the user believes is more suitablefor the particular asset.

Options indicating that the asset is offensive in one or more areas mayalso be selected. In particular, among other options, the user mayspecify that the asset is offensive to minorities or women, is religionintolerant, contains content that is politically incorrect, containscontent relating to animal cruelty, or contains immoral content. Theuser may select submit option 850 after selecting the desired feedbackoptions to send the feedback to the media provider or sponsors of theasset. Additionally, selection of back button 840 may return the user tothe previous screen and selection of unlock option 870 may cancel thefeedback submission and unlock the asset with title 810 (e.g., FamilyGuy).

In some embodiments (e.g., those using a set-top box with remote controland no keyboard) the user may be limited in amount of feedback he/shecan efficiently provide. For example, it may be difficult for the userto provide textual input about an asset through the television system.Accordingly, the user may select more feedback option 860 in order to begiven the opportunity to provide feedback based on options that are notavailable on screen 800 (e.g., using a keyboard and an on-screen a textbox) via a website.

Selection of more feedback option 860 may transmit a communication to aremote computer (e.g., a web server) that includes an identification ofthe user and the asset for which the user would like to provide morefeedback. As discussed in more detail below in connection with FIGS.10-13, the user may subsequently access the webpage from the web serveror remote computer using another device (e.g., a computer). The user maybe able to more easily provide feedback about the particular asset inthe webpage by, for example, in addition to selecting radio buttons orcheck boxes, inserting text into a text box using a keyboard and mouse(as opposed to or in addition to a remote control).

As discussed above, each asset may have a corresponding data structurestored in storage device 116 (FIG. 1). FIG. 9 shows an illustrativeasset data structure 900 in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention. Data structure 900 may include various fields that specifythe attributes of the asset. For example, title field 910 may specifythe title of the asset, on-demand field 920 may indicate whether theasset is available on demand and shared attributes field 930 may includepointers to other assets that are known to share attributes with theasset corresponding to the particular asset data structure.

When searching for assets that have similar attributes as a lockedasset, control circuitry 118 may compare each field (or a subset of thefields) of the locked asset's data structure 900 with other stored assetdata structures 900 (FIG. 9). If the value(s) of particular fields inthe locked asset's data structure match another asset's data structurefields, control circuitry 118 may determine that the two assets havesimilar attributes and detect whether inconsistent actions have beenperformed relative to the assets. For example, a first asset's datastructure may have a field that specifies that the first asset has beenlocked and a second asset's data structure may have the same fieldindicating the second asset is not locked. This may indicateinconsistent actions have been performed relative to the first andsecond assets and accordingly control circuitry 118 may alert the userabout the inconsistency.

Shared attributes field 930 may be provided in asset data structure 900to make the search for assets with similar attributes more efficient. Inparticular, the locked asset's data structure 900 may include a numberof shared attributes fields 930 that each link the asset to anotherasset. For example, the values in shared attribute fields may include atitle 932 of a second asset which has similar attributes as the lockedasset associated with asset data structure 900 and a pointer to anaddress location 934 where the second asset's data structure is stored.Accordingly, instead of comparing every field of every asset datastructure to find similar assets, control circuitry 118 may simplyretrieve the asset data structure associated with a locked asset andfind the locations of all the data structures of assets which havesimilar attributes as the locked asset based on the values of sharedattributes field 930.

In some embodiments, the user may provide more detailed feedbackinformation through a website interface. An electronic communication maybe transmitted including a user and asset identifiers to a computerwhich may host a website. The user may access the website and providemore detailed feedback about the asset to the media provider.

FIG. 10 is a diagram of an illustrative online asset feedback system1000 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. System1000 includes first and second user equipment devices 110 a-b, acommunications network 1010 and a computer 1020.

The user may lock a particular asset using a television equipment devicesuch as device 110 a. In response to locking the asset, the system mayallow the user to provide feedback. The user may desire to provide moredetailed feedback (e.g., through a text interface) than the feedbackoptions available on device 110 a. Accordingly, the user may select amore feedback option 860 (FIG. 8).

In response to the user request to provide more feedback, user equipmentdevice 110 a may retrieve a user identifier (e.g., a user profile,account number, or any other unique identifier associated with the user)along with a unique identifier of the asset for which the user desiresto provide detailed feedback. The unique identifier of the asset may bestored in an asset data structure and may be the title of the asset,episode number, character code, or any other suitable identifier thatidentifies the particular asset. User equipment device 110 a maytransmit the user identifier and asset identifier through communicationspath 122 a to communications network 1010. Communications network 1010may be any suitable communications network including, for example, asatellite network, a fiber-optic network, a cable network, an Internetnetwork, or any other suitable wired or wireless network.

Computer 1020 may be coupled to receive the user and asset identifiers(i.e., the detailed asset feedback request) from network 1010 throughpath 1025. Computer 1020 may be a website host that includes a storage1022, processor 1023, a display 1024 and a local bus 1021. Computer 1020may store the detailed asset feedback request as an entry in a feedbackqueue in storage 1022. As each detailed asset feedback request isreceived the request may be appended to the end of the queue. Althoughthe invention is described in the context of a queue, it should beunderstood that a stack, linked list, time stamps, database or any othertype of organizational data structure may be used instead. In someimplementations, the feedback queue may be partially stored in storage1022 in computer 1020 and on another device such as user device 110 b.Alternatively, the feedback queue may be transferred completely orgenerated on user device 110 b which may avoid having to transmitinformation over communications network 1010.

The user may access the webpage hosted by computer 1020 through userequipment device 110 b. User equipment device 110 b may be implementedon a different computer or on the same computer as computer 1020. Whenthe user loads the webpage and signs in, computer 1020 may determinewhether the user is associated with any feedback requests stored instorage 1022. Computer 1020 may retrieve a feedback request entryassociated with the user from the queue in storage 1022 and provide anelectronic communication through communications network 1010 to userequipment device 110 b. In some implementations, when user equipmentdevice 110 b is implemented on computer 1020, this step may beunnecessary. The electronic communication may provide a prompt for theuser indicating that there is an outstanding feedback request for aparticular asset for which the user indicated the desire to providedetailed feedback.

The user may fill out forms on the website providing feedback about theasset using device 110 b and post or submit the forms to computer 1020over communications network 1010. Computer 1020 may store the feedbackin storage 1022 and transmit the feedback to the media provider of theasset or sponsor of the asset about which the user provided feedback.

FIG. 11 shows an illustrative asset feedback website screen 1100 inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Screen 1100includes various browsing options typically available in browsers (e.g.,Internet Explorer or Mozilla). In particular, a back option 1110 andforward option 1112 may be provided allowing the user to navigateforward and backwards through website pages. A home page option 1113 maybe provided to navigate to the user's home page and an address bar 1120may be displayed indicating the address of the website the user isbrowsing. A cursor 1140 may also be provided to select between thevarious options on the website. Advertisements 1130 may be displayedalongside the webpage and a scroll bar 1122 may allow the user to scrollup/down through the webpage content and/or advertisements 1130.

After the user logs into the website using device 110 b (e.g., by way ofentering a username and password in a login screen associated with thewebsite), the website may display a user identifier 1150 that mayinclude the name of the user. In response to receiving the logininformation from device 110 b, computer 1020 may determine and retrieveany or all feedback requests from the feedback queue. Device 110 b mayreceive one or all of the feedback requests and provide an indication tothe user using feedback prompt 1160 (e.g., a pop-up window or websiteoverlay) informing the user about the feedback request(s) that is/areoutstanding.

In some implementations, a cookie (or other suitable file) may be storedon device 110 b which includes the user's login information. When theuser enters the website, the cookie (or other file) may be retrieved toautomatically log the user onto the website and making it unnecessaryfor the user to type in a username and password. After device 110 bautomatically logs onto the website, computer 1020 may similarlydetermine whether any feedback request entries are present in thefeedback queue that are associated with the particular user.

Feedback prompt 1160 may include a view assets option 1162 and a clearall option 1164. The user may select view assets option 1162 to get adisplay of all the outstanding feedback requests and the assets forwhich the user expressed a desire to provide detailed feedback. Itshould be understood that instead of providing prompt 1160, the systemmay automatically display all or one of the assets which were retrievedfrom the feedback queue and for which the user expressed the desire toprovide detailed feedback. Selection of view assets option 1162 maydisplay a window 1210 (FIG. 12) including listing of assets for whichthe user expressed the desire to provide detailed feedback.

The user may select clear all option 1164 to remove all outstandingfeedback requests from the feedback queue. This option may be selectedif the user no longer desires to provide detailed feedback for any ofthe assets for which there exists a feedback request entry in the queue.

FIG. 12 shows an illustrative asset feedback website screen 1200 inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention. A window 1210may be displayed after the user selects the option to view assets forwhich detailed feedback is to be provided. Window 1210 includes a listof assets 1230 which may be generated based on feedback entriesretrieved from the feedback queue. A scroll bar 1220 may be provided toallow the user to bring into view other assets for which detailedfeedback is to be provided that could fit into window 1210.

Each asset in the list may include a view description option 1232. Theuser may select view description option 1232 to receive more informationabout the asset. The values in any of the fields of asset data structure900 that corresponds to the selected asset may be retrieved from storageand provided (e.g., displayed) to the user in response to the userselection of view description option 1232 (FIG. 9). For example, inresponse to the user selection of view description option 1232 which isdisplayed with the asset “Family Guy”, the system may retrieve assetdata structure 900 associated with the selected asset “Family Guy” anddisplay the value of the description field (e.g., “Stewie goes tojail”). After the user selects a particular asset 1230 for which toprovide detailed feedback, the system may navigate the user to websitescreen 1300 (FIG. 13).

FIG. 13 shows an illustrative asset feedback website screen 1300 inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Screen 1300includes feedback options that the user may select to provide detailedfeedback about the selected asset. For example, the user may selectasset 1230 (e.g., “Family Guy”) from screen 1210 (FIG. 12) and thesystem may display the title 1310 of the selected asset in screen 1300.Feedback option 1320 may be provided which may include a radio button1322 that the user can toggle to provide feedback. Feedback options 1320included in screen 1300 may be inclusive of the feedback optionsprovided in screen 800 (FIG. 8).

Among feedback options 1320, a text box 1330 may be provided. Inparticular, because the user is not limited by a remote controlinterface and may have a keyboard, it may be easier for the user toprovide detailed comments about the selected asset. The user may insertremarks (feedback) about the asset in the form of text in text box 1330.A scroll bar 1332 may be included when the text inserted extends beyondthe size of text box 1330. A clear text option 1334 may be provided toallow the user to erase all of the text inserted into text box 1330 witha single click (or selection) (e.g., by using a mouse) of clear textoption 1334.

When the user has completed providing feedback (e.g., by selectingfeedback options 1320 and/or inserting text), the user may select submitoption 1360 to post the feedback to the website. Selection of submitoption 1360 may transmit the feedback to media source 120 and/oradvertising source 130 (FIGS. 1 and 10) or sponsors of the asset.Advertising source 130 or sponsors may use the feedback information tocontinue or withdraw sponsoring/funding the asset and/or network throughwhich the asset is provided. As one example, if a retailer ofeducational toys is paying for advertising associated with a particularprogram (e.g., Power Rangers) that consistently gets negative feedbackfor the program's focus on violence and brain-numbing plotlines, theadvertising source 130 may decide to remove the advertiser'sadvertisements from the particular program.

A cancel option 1350 may be selected to remove the feedback requestentry from the feedback queue and not provide detailed feedback aboutthe asset. Selection of cancel option 1350 may navigate the user back toscreen 1200 to allow the user to select a different asset from window1210 for which to provide detailed feedback. The asset associated withtitle 1310 may be removed from the list provided in window 1210 sincethe user no longer desires to provide detailed feedback.

Alternatively, the user may select a save in queue option 1340 to savethe selected feedback options or inserted text back into the feedbackqueue. In particular, selection of save in queue option 1340 may storethe feedback options selected by the user in the feedback queue to allowthe user to finish providing feedback about the asset at a laterdate/time. For example, when the user logs into the website at a futuredate/time, computer 1020 may retrieve a feedback request from thefeedback queue that includes the previously selected feedback optionsabout the asset. The feedback request associated with the asset may bedisplayed in window 1210 (FIG. 12). In response to the user selection ofthe feedback request, the system may navigate the user to screen 1300and populate the feedback options 1320 including text box 1330 based onthe previously stored feedback options. Accordingly, the user maycontinue to provide feedback about the asset from the point at which theuser left off even in the middle of inserting text into text box 1330.In some embodiments, rather than queue feedback requests to a user'sprofile on a specific website (e.g., Comcast.net) feedback requests maybe sent by email or text message to a user at an email address ortelephone number or IP address which the user designates. The email ortext message may contain all the specifics of the program, theinconsistencies which led to the feedback, as well as a reply address,return telephone number or return IP address where the textual portionof the user's feedback can be sent along with the original information.In some embodiments, this email or text message may contain multiplealternative addresses or telephone numbers that the user may send to(e.g., one for each of the advertisers supporting the program, one forthe network provider, and one for the content provider). In someembodiments, the email or text message may contain links to web basedfeedback forms that will allow the user to enter his textual feedback.In some embodiments, a picture (e.g., a still frame or cover art) orvideo clip (e.g., a theatrical trailer) that is representative of one ormore of the programs is included in an electronic communicationconcerning the feedback. The user may receive the email or text messageon his/her portable email device (e.g., BlackBerry) and may providetextual feedback about the program using the portable email devicethrough the links and/or reply address that may be included in the emailcommunication.

In some implementations, the system may automatically (e.g., after apredetermined time period of, for example, 1 or 2 minutes) save thefeedback options selected by the user in feedback queue 1340 (or someother storage in memory). This way, if the user accidentally closes thewebsite (or if the computer shuts down), the user would not lose all thefeedback that was selected/provided. In particular, the next time theuser logs onto the website, the feedback options may be retrieved fromstorage and the user may continue to provide feedback from the latestpoint of storage (e.g., about 1 or 2 minutes before the website wasinadvertently or otherwise closed).

FIG. 14 illustrates a method 1400 of alerting a user about inconsistentactions performed relative to assets in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present invention. At step 1410, a first action performed relativeto a first asset is received from a first user. For example, a user mayperform a first action by locking one or more attributes of a firstasset. In particular, the user may lock a title attribute of an asset byselecting a title from menu 310 (FIG. 3). Alternatively, the user mayperform a first action relative to a first asset by selecting a lockattribute option 540, 550 or 560 from on-screen menu 520 overlaid overthe first asset (e.g., displayed with the first asset).

At step 1420, a second action performed relative to a second asset isreceived, where the second asset has an attribute with a value similarto the value of the corresponding attribute of the first asset. Forexample, the second action may be an inaction by the user (e.g., theuser does not lock the second asset) (FIG. 6). In some scenarios, thesecond action performed relative to the second asset may be an update toprogram listings in a program guide which changes the value of anattribute of a particular asset or adds an asset to the program guide(FIG. 7). The system may determine that the first and second assets havesimilar attributes by comparing fields in the asset data structuresassociated with the first and second assets.

At step 1430, an inconsistency between the first and second actions isdetected. For example, control circuitry 118 may detect a conflictbetween the first and second actions by determining that the firstaction locked the first asset and the second asset, that has a value foran attribute that is similar to the value of the corresponding attributeof the first asset, was not locked (FIG. 1). In particular, controlcircuitry 118 may retrieve one or more attributes from fields in assetdata structure 900 associated with the locked first asset. Controlcircuitry 118 may compare the attributes of the locked first asset tofields in asset data structures 900 associated with other assets(including the second asset) to determine whether the assets havesimilar attributes. Control circuitry 118 may detect that the first andsecond actions are inconsistent by determining that the first actionlocked the first asset while the second action did not lock the secondasset.

At step 1440, the first user is alerted about the inconsistency betweenthe first and second actions. For example, conflict alert screen 400,600 or 700 may be displayed and may include a prompt informing the userabout the inconsistency between the first and second actions. Inparticular, conflict alert screen 600 includes a prompt informing theuser that a first asset (e.g., Family Guy) with a particular ratingattribute has been locked but a second asset which has a similar ratingattribute has not been locked. The user may choose to resolve theinconsistency by locking the second asset, providing feedback about thefirst/second asset or ignoring the conflict altogether.

FIG. 15 illustrates a method 1500 of restricting access and/or providingfeedback about assets in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention. At step 1510, a request to restrict access to a first assetis received. For example, the user may restrict access by locking atitle attribute of an asset by selecting a title from menu 310 (FIG. 3).Alternatively, the user may restrict access to an asset by selecting alock attribute option 540, 550 or 560 from on-screen menu 520 overlaidover the first asset (e.g., displayed with the first asset).

At step 1520, attributes of a second asset are retrieved. For example,control circuitry 118 may select an asset (different from the assetwhich has been restricted at step 1510) and retrieve one or moreattributes from fields in asset data structure 900 that is associatedwith the selected asset and that may be stored in storage device 116(FIG. 1). The asset data structure may also be retrieved from mediasource 120 if the data structure is not present in storage device 116.

At step 1530, an attribute of the second asset is compared to anattribute of the first asset to determine whether the attributes aresimilar. For example, control circuitry 118 may compare the attributesof the first asset which has been restricted to the attributes retrievedat step 1520 that are associated with the second asset. Controlcircuitry 118 may proceed to step 1540 to determine whether the secondasset has access restrictions when at least one of the attributes of thefirst and second assets are similar. Control circuitry 118 may return tostep 1520 to select another asset when none of the attributes of thefirst and second assets are similar.

At step 1540, a determination is made as to whether the second asset hasaccess restrictions. For example, control circuitry 118 may determinebased on a value in one of the fields of the second asset's datastructure whether access has been restricted to the second asset.Control circuitry 118 may return to step 1520 to select and retrieveattributes of another asset when the second asset contains accessrestrictions (e.g., because this may indicate that no inconsistentactions have been performed relative to the first and second assetssince both have been restricted). Control circuitry 118 may proceed tostep 1550 to alert the user about inconsistent actions if the secondasset is determined not to have access restrictions (e.g., is unlocked).

At step 1550, the user is alerted by the lack of access restrictions tothe second asset. For example, conflict alert screen 400, 600 or 700 maybe displayed and may include a prompt alerting the user that the firstasset is locked while the second asset has not been locked. Inparticular, conflict alert screen 600 includes a prompt alerting theuser that a first asset (e.g., Family Guy) with a particular ratingattribute has been locked but a second asset which has a similar ratingattribute has not been locked.

At step 1560, the user is provided with an option to restrict access tothe second asset and/or provide feedback about the first/second asset.For example, the user may choose to resolve the inconsistency orconflict by locking the second asset, providing feedback about thefirst/second asset or ignoring the conflict altogether. In particular,the user may select lock all assets having the similar attributes option640 to instruct control circuitry 118 to lock all assets which have therating attribute of the first asset or a higher rating. Alternatively,the user may select continue with lock option 630 to ignore the alertand just lock the first asset. The user may also select provide feedbackabout the first asset option 650 to be provided with screen 800 wherethe user may provide feedback about the first or second asset.

FIG. 16 illustrates a method 1600 of providing detailed feedback aboutan asset through a website in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention. At step 1610, a first electronic communication isreceived at a computer that is associated with a website and is remotefrom a first user device. For example, in response to the user selectingmore feedback option 860 (FIG. 8), user device 110 a may transmit acommunication (e.g., feedback request) to computer 1020 that includes auser and asset identifiers (FIG. 10). Computer 1020 may host a websitewhich the user is a member of and can access to view assets and providefeedback about the assets. The asset may be an asset about which theuser has expressed the desire to provide detailed feedback. Thecommunication may be provided to computer 1020 over communicationsnetwork 1010.

At step 1620, data indicating feedback for a media asset will later beprovided by a user is stored in response to the receipt of the firstelectronic communication. For example, computer 1020 may store thefeedback request received from user device 110 a in a feedback queue (orany other type of organizational data structure) in storage 1022.

At step 1630, the system detects that the user has accessed the websitewith a second user device. For example, the user of user device 110 bmay log onto the website hosted by computer 1020. In particular, userdevice 110 b may be another computer on which the user may operate abrowser and enter the website address of the website hosted by computer1020. The user may also manually (or automatically) enter a username andpassword to allow computer 1020 to identify the user and load variousoptions (include feedback requests) unique to the user.

At step 1640, a determination is made as to whether data is storedindicating that feedback for the media asset will be provided by theuser. For example, processor 1023 may determine whether the feedbackqueue in storage 1022 includes any feedback requests associated with theuser that is logged into the website. Processor 1023 may retrieve thefirst feedback request that was entered into the queue or any otherrequest or requests that are stored in the feedback queue.

At step 1650, a second electronic communication is provided to thesecond user device prompting the user for feedback about the media assetin response to determining that data is stored. For example, user device110 b may receive one or more feedback requests that are retrieved fromthe feedback queue from computer 1020 and may display a prompt 1160 thatindicates to the user that there are assets for which the user expressedthe desire to provide feedback (FIG. 11). The user may select aparticular asset about which to provide detailed feedback from window1210 (FIG. 12).

At step 1660, feedback about the media asset is received from the seconduser device. For example, a feedback form may be displayed in screen1300 (FIG. 13). The feedback form may allow the user to select betweenvarious feedback options 1320 including a text box 1330 to providefeedback about a selected asset. The user may select submit option 1360to transmit the feedback to media source 120 or any other sponsor oradvertiser of the asset (FIG. 1).

The above described embodiments of the present invention are presentedfor purposes of illustration and not of limitation, and the presentinvention is limited only by the claims which follow.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for receiving feedback concerning amedia asset from a user of a first user equipment device, comprising:receiving, at a computer, a first electronic communication, wherein thecomputer is associated with a website and is remote from the first userequipment device; storing, in response to receiving the first electroniccommunication, data indicating feedback for the media asset will beprovided by the user; detecting that the user has accessed the websitewith a second user equipment device; determining, in response to thedetecting, whether data is stored indicating that feedback for the mediaasset will be provided by the user; in response to the determining;providing a second electronic communication to the second user equipmentdevice prompting the user for the feedback for the media asset; andreceiving the feedback for the media asset from the second userequipment device, wherein the feedback includes information indicatingthe user was alerted to an inconsistent action performed relative to themedia asset.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein storing data indicatingfeedback for the media asset will be provided by the user comprisesadding an entry to a feedback queue, wherein the entry includesinformation corresponding to the data indicating feedback for the mediaasset will be provided by the user.
 3. The method of claim 1 whereindetecting that the user has accessed the website with the second userequipment device comprises displaying, at the second user equipmentdevice, an option to provide feedback for a media asset, the methodfurther comprising: receiving, from the user, a selection of the optionto provide feedback.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein determiningwhether data is stored indicating that feedback for the media asset willbe provided by the user comprises: determining whether at least oneentry has been added to a feedback queue, wherein the at least one entryincludes information corresponding to the data indicating feedback forthe media asset will be provided by the user; and retrieving the atleast one entry from the feedback queue.
 5. The method of claim 1wherein the first electronic communication includes an identifier of theuser and an identifier of the media asset.
 6. The method of claim 5,wherein the identifier of the media asset includes the title of themedia asset.
 7. The method of claim 1 wherein the feedback for the mediaasset is received from the second user equipment device in a textualformat.
 8. The method of claim 1 wherein the second electroniccommunication includes a title of the media asset and a feedback fieldfor receiving feedback from the user expressing reasons for approval ordisapproval of the media asset.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein thesecond electronic communication is an email or text message.
 10. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the second electronic communication comprisesa picture or video clip that is representative of the media asset. 11.The method of claim 1 wherein prompting the user for the feedback forthe media asset comprises displaying an alert for the viewer requestingfeedback for the media asset.
 12. The method of claim 1 whereinreceiving the feedback comprises displaying on the second user equipmentdevice a plurality of feedback options and selecting at least one of thefeedback options.
 13. The method of claim 12 wherein at least one of thefeedback options includes a textual input field for allowing the user toexpress reasons for approval or disapproval of the media asset.
 14. Asystem for receiving feedback concerning a media asset from a user of afirst user equipment device, the system comprising: a computerassociated with a website and being remote from the first user equipmentdevice comprising processing circuitry configured to: receive a firstelectronic communication; store in a memory, in response to receivingthe first electronic communication, data indicating feedback for themedia asset will be provided by the user; detect that the user hasaccessed the website with a second user equipment device; determine, inresponse to the detecting, whether data is stored in the memoryindicating that feedback for the media asset will be provided by theuser; in response to the determining; provide a second electroniccommunication to the second user equipment device prompting the user forthe feedback for the media asset; and receive the feedback for the mediaasset from the second user equipment device, wherein the feedbackincludes information indicating the user was alerted to an inconsistentaction performed relative to the media asset.
 15. The system of claim 14wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to add an entryto a feedback queue in the memory, wherein the entry includesinformation corresponding to the data indicating feedback for the mediaasset will be provided by the user.
 16. The system of claim 14 whereinthe second user equipment device comprises a display device and controlcircuitry, wherein the control circuitry is configured to display on thedisplay device an option to provide feedback for a media asset andreceive, from the user, a selection of the option to provide feedback.17. The system of claim 14 wherein the processing circuitry is furtherconfigured to: determine whether at least one entry has been added to afeedback queue in the memory, wherein the at least one entry includesinformation corresponding to the data indicating feedback for the mediaasset will be provided by the user; and retrieve the at least one entryfrom the feedback queue.
 18. The system of claim 14 wherein the firstelectronic communication includes an identifier of the user and anidentifier of the media asset.
 19. The system of claim 18, wherein theidentifier of the media asset includes the title of the media asset. 20.The system of claim 14 wherein the feedback for the media asset isreceived from the second user equipment device in a textual format. 21.The system of claim 14 wherein the second electronic communicationincludes a title of the media asset and a feedback field for receivingfeedback from the user expressing reasons for approval or disapproval ofthe media asset.
 22. The system of claim 14, wherein the secondelectronic communication is an email or text message.
 23. The system ofclaim 14, wherein the second electronic communication comprises apicture or video clip that is representative of the media asset.
 24. Thesystem of claim 14 wherein the second user equipment device comprises adisplay device and control circuitry configured to display on thedisplay device an alert for the viewer requesting feedback for the mediaasset.
 25. The system of claim 14 the second user equipment devicecomprises a display device and control circuitry configured to displayon the display device a plurality of feedback options and receive aselection of at least one of the feedback options.
 26. The system ofclaim 25 wherein at least one of the feedback options includes a textualinput field for allowing the user to express reasons for approval ordisapproval of the media asset.